BOL À AUMÔNES EN ÉMAUX CLOISONNÉS ET ALLIAGE DE CUIVRE...

BOL À AUMÔNES EN ÉMAUX CLOISONNÉS ET ALLIAGE DE CUIVRE DORÉ
DYNASTIE MING, MARQUE À SIX CARACTÈRES ET ÉPOQUE JINGTAI
7.1 cm (2 3/4 in.) high;
14.1 cm (5 1/2 in.) diam.
A CLOISONNÉ ENAMEL AND GILT COPPER ALLOY ALMS BOWL
MING DYNASTY, JINGTAI SIX-CHARACTER MARK AND OF THE PERIOD

The shape of this simple yet elegant bowl with its gently tapered body, generous rounded shoulders, flat bottom and narrowed opening is representative of the objects used in Buddhist religious ceremonies as well as in daily life by monastics. Its shape, composition and size are described in the monastic rules where it is stipulated that an alms bowl should be crude in form to not create greed, dark grey in color to not incite desire, and of a fixed size to encourage contentment. An alms bowl was considered a requisite and was one of only six objects including three garments, a stool, and a water strainer, that a Buddhist monk was allowed to own.

The basic shape of this bowl originally stems from metalwork first introduced from Persia or Central Asia to China. The present alms bowl is heavily cast and exquisitely decorated in vibrant enamels around the exterior with a band of large lotus blooms with radiating multi-coloured, spiky petals, borne on meandering leafy stems with smaller lotus buds, all on a bright turquoise ground, the interior and base richly gilt. Both the material and decoration defy monastic rules of simplicity and functionality. The bowl is made in the highly complex cloisonné technique which involved creating designs on metal surfaces using coloured glass paste which was then placed within spaces created by thin copper or bronze wires bent into the desired motifs and then soldered onto the metal body. The cloisons thus created served to enrich the surface, outline parts of the design and keep the enamel colours from running into each other. As on this alms bowl, the enamels were polished after they had been fired, and the surface of the wires gilt to give the piece added brilliance.

Vessels decorated in the cloisonné technique reached China during the Yuan dynasty (1206-1368) yet the earliest dated examples of Chinese cloisonné enamels date to the Xuande reign (1425-35) of the Ming dynasty when this art form flourished under imperial patronage as a massive, covered jar and a small covered box with finely incised Xuande marks from the Uldry Collection demonstrate, compare Helmut Brinker and Albert Lutz, Chinesisches Cloisonné. Die Sammlung Pierre Uldry, Zürich, 1985, col. pls. 4 and 5. Stylistically and technically, these Xuande-marked cloisonné enamel vessels with their heavily cast metal bodies, vibrant enamel palette including yellow, green, blue, red and white, their hammered bronze cloisons and rich gilding as well as their use of lotus scrolls with leaves of varied form, spiral tendrils, spiky leaves and buds, are very close to Jingtai-marked cloisonné enamel pieces. It has been argued that Jingtai-marked wares, which are often of superb quality, are in fact of the earlier Xuande period but with later added Jingtai marks, see Claudia Brown, Chinese Cloisonné. The Clague Collection, Phoenix, Arizona, 1980, pp. 7-8. The present alms bowl with its exquisitely rendered decoration of scrolling lotus scrolls executed in vibrant and colourful enamels testifies to the type of luxury good that was made in the imperial workshops of the early Ming court under the Yongle (1403-25), Xuande (1426-35) and Jingtai (1450-57) emperors. Its rather diminutive size and precious material value suggest that it was meant to be handled and appreciated.

The finely incised Jingtai six-character mark on the base of this alms bowl can be compared to that incised on a circular cloisonné enamel covered box in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Enamel Ware in the Ming and Ch'ing Dynasty, Taipei, 1999, cat. no. 1. It is also similar to the Jingtai mark on a dish from the Speelman Collection, sold Sotheby's Hong Kong, 3 April 2018, lot 3406. Fifteenth century marked coisonné enamel alms bowls are very rare. A closely related but larger alms bowl was sold in Christie's Hong Kong, 29 May 2007, lot 1435.

銅鎏金掐絲琺瑯缽
明 景泰 「大明景泰年製」款

此缽造型簡潔而優雅，肩部圓潤豐滿，腹輕微收細，底部平坦，開口收窄，是佛教宗教儀式及僧侶日常生活中使用器物的代表。這種缽的基本形狀最初源於從波斯或中亞傳入中國的金屬工藝。缽被視為宗教生活之必需品，是佛教僧侶被允許擁有的六樣物品之一，其餘則包括三件衣物、一張凳子和一個過濾水的器具。

雖然這樣的缽的形狀、結構和尺寸在僧侶規則中有所描述，其中規定缽應外形粗糙以免僧侶生貪念，顏色深灰以免引起欲望，大小固定以鼓勵知足，但此缽鑄造厚實且外部飾有鮮艷的琺琅彩，包括一圈碩大的飽滿尖瓣蓮花，生於捲葉蓮莖上，小巧的花蕾點綴其間，色彩絢麗，映襯著明亮的綠松石色背景與缽內和底部的厚重鎏金。顯然，無論其材料或是其裝飾皆違反僧侶中對簡樸和功能性的規定。掐絲工藝創造出獨立的空間，勾勒成精心設計的細節以令琺琅彩不相互流淌混合。如此缽上的琺琅彩，在經過燒制後被打磨拋光，並在金屬絲表面鎏金，使得整件作品更加璀璨。

掐絲琺瑯裝飾的器皿在元朝（1206-1368）期間傳入中國，然而最早可追溯的刻有年款之中國掐絲琺瑯器為明朝宣德年間（1425-1435），這一藝術形式在宮廷的贊助下繁榮發展，如Uldry收藏所示的一件大型蓋罐和一件小蓋盒，上刻精細的宣德年款，見Helmut Brinker 及 Albert Lutz，《Chinesisches Cloisonné. Die Sammlung Pierre Uldry》，蘇黎世，1985年，彩色圖版4及5。自風格與工藝而言，宣德年間的銅胎掐絲琺瑯器與景泰年間的產物十分近似。

此缽上鮮艷多彩的琺瑯飾捲葉蓮花的絢麗工藝，正證明著明朝早期永樂（1403-25）、宣德（1426-35）以及景泰（1450-57）三朝宮廷皇家工坊製作的奢侈品樣式與品質。相對較小的尺寸以及珍貴的材料表明其原為置於手上品玩欣賞而作。缽底細刻景泰六字款，可以與台北故宮所藏的一個圓形掐絲琺琅蓋盒上的款識相較，該蓋盒於《明清琺瑯器展覽圖錄》（台北，1999年）中作為圖錄1號作品而展示。此外，其亦可另一件Speelman舊藏之掐絲琺瑯盤之景泰款相似，見蘇富比，香港，2018年4月3日，拍品3406。十五世紀且帶年款的掐絲琺琅缽非常罕見。一個與之相似但尺寸更大之例可參考佳士得，香港，2007年5月29日，拍品1435。